Drug lord disguised as successful wood company owner

(Baonghean.vn)- With the "cover" of a successful businessman in the Land of a Million Elephants, Tran Trung Kien has successfully transported drugs and hot weapons to Vietnam for consumption many times, including in Nghe An....

From successful businessman

Before being arrested for illegal drug trafficking, Tran Trung Kien, born in 1984 (residing in Hung Trach commune, Bo Trach district) was a young businessman, doing well in Quang Binh province. After graduating from a vocational school in Ho Chi Minh City, Kien returned to his hometown to apply for a job at a business specializing in trading forest products.

Subject Tran Trung Kien

From here, Kien was trusted by the business owner to be "dispatched" to Laos to buy, sell, and transport forest products to Vietnam. With his dynamism in communication and business, Kien soon became the unique "right-hand man" of the owner in the business of trading and exploiting timber in Laos and was paid handsomely.

More importantly, after a period of time in Laos, Kien can represent his boss in managing the business, from relations with partners to purchasing, transporting and paying for forest products in Laos before bringing the wood to Vietnam.

Three years later, seeing that Kien had a talent for business and was dedicated to his work, the business owner kindly offered to let Kien buy shares to promote Kien to Deputy Director of the business in charge of business, but Kien tactfully refused.

Kien's pickup truck is used for transportation.

After that, Kien quit his job at this company and established his own independent mineral exploitation business, with his wife as director and Kien as deputy director but directly managing the business.

Since Kien established the business, a number of major business partners in Laos as well as in and outside the province of the old business have now joined hands to do business with Kien.

To expand the business and trading market, Kien opened a “representative” office in Laos, which Kien directly manages and operates. The main source of collected forest products is rosewood and cloves.

To the drug and arms lord

After only 5 years of establishment, Kien's business became very famous. But no one expected that, during his time in Laos, especially since the beginning of 2016, under the guise of being a forestry business owner, Kien secretly bought drugs to bring back to Vietnam for consumption.

To make each shipment go smoothly, instead of going through the border gates, Kien walked across the border on small roads and then called a taxi to Quang Binh province. The main areas for distributing and consuming crystal meth are in the southern provinces and Vinh city, Nghe An province.

Kien often carries hot weapons with him.

To protect himself when crossing the deep forests and mountains from Laos to Vietnam, Kien bought military weapons in Laos, mainly K59 guns. However, when he returned to Quang Binh safely, Kien sold the guns to those in need.

There was even a time when Kien bought 3 pistols from Laos at once and brought them back to Vietnam to hide in the house without his wife knowing. Every time he left home to sell drugs, Kien did not forget to put a gun in his waistband with enough bullets.

Once Kien went all the way to Ho Chi Minh City, but when he went to Nha Trang, he forgot his firearm and still returned. This shows that the business owner's drug dealing and carrying firearms was not outside of the purpose of fighting back if surrounded.

Into the "sights" of PCMT scouts

In mid-April 2016, detectives from the Drug Crime Investigation Team (Vinh City Police) discovered a number of strangers in the area showing signs of illegal drug trafficking, including a young man with a Quang Binh accent, quite young and intelligent.

Immediately, the above subjects were put in the "crosshairs". Through surveillance, the detectives discovered that the subject with the Quang Binh accent appeared in Vinh City 2-3 times a month but was not involved in any legitimate business transactions, but only went to restaurants to eat and drink.

There was a detail that made the detectives pay special attention: at night, after each drinking session, the subjects called a taxi to a location in the suburbs, far from residential areas, with few people passing by, discussed some work, then each person went in a different direction.

Realizing that the subjects were likely to be trading in prohibited goods, the Vinh City Police Department established a special project coded 16Y and assigned the Drug Crime Investigation Team to deploy a plan to solve the case.

And fall into the net

At the end of June 2016, the task force received information that Kien would be in Vinh City in early July to buy and sell drugs and this time he would be carrying a "hot" weapon. The drug exchange could take place in the center of Vinh City or a neighboring district...

Evidence seized from Kien when arrested

Immediately after that, 3 working groups were deployed. The first group was present at the North of Ben Thuy Bridge; the second group was stationed at the center of Vinh City; the remaining working group was tasked with moving according to the direction of the Special Task Force and was ready to support when necessary.

The biggest requirement that the Task Force made was to ensure absolute safety. As reported, on July 1, Kien was in Vinh City. After getting out of the taxi, Kien hired a motorbike taxi to go around some main streets, and got off in the middle of Quang Trung Street.

Using professional measures, the detectives confirmed that the business owner had a pistol with enough bullets in front of his belly. Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Huu Cuong, Head of the Investigation Team, called the mobile task force to respond quickly to the Quang Trung street area where Kien was standing to support the detectives to directly approach Kien when necessary.

When Kien took out his phone to make a call, seeing that the opportunity to solve the case had come, Lieutenant Colonel Cao Thanh Sam, Captain of the Drug Crime Investigation Team, and three detectives in the task force immediately rushed out and knocked Kien down. Like a cornered animal, Kien used all his strength to fight back fiercely. However, he was subdued by the detectives. Only then did he surrender and put his hands in handcuffs.

At the investigation agency, through initial investigation, Kien confessed that he bought the drugs and 3 pistols in Laos.

After receiving the results of the assessment, on July 14, 2016, the Vinh City Police Department initiated a case, prosecuted the accused, and issued a decision to temporarily detain Tran Trung Kien (born in 1984), residing in Hung Trach commune, Bo Trach district, Quang Binh province, for the acts of "Illegal trading of narcotics" and "Illegal possession of military weapons" to serve the investigation.

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